Shadowbend Park in The Woodlands Texas

Shadowbend Park in Cochran's Crossing of The Woodlands Texas is one of the cornerstones of the park system in south Montgomery County. It has two major components - the park itself with normal Woodlands amenities and the Marsh Experience, across the street from the village amenity park.  This is a major park of The Woodlands, characterized as a village park. You will notice the sign above on Lake Woodlands Dr that leads one to the parking areas.  If you wish to use the tennis courts, parking would be closest where the sign points. Otherwise, there is considerably more parking spaces in the next parking lot which is general parking for the swimmin area and recreational areas of the park. 

 

Two pairs of tennis courts are separated by a small pavilion for snacking and personal belongings. As other parks, this has one court for an individual to practice. 

In the main section, the remainder of the amenities are located. 

Swimming Pool at Shadowbend

Kiddie pool

Pavilion at Shadowbend Park

Children play area

This park is middle aged, and it has a great deal of vegetation, including nice tall trees of various species. The pool and the pavilion are equivalent to the other village parks. Personally, I do like the trees here, so it has a special place in my priorities.

Children play area

 

In 1991, funding from the Texas Parks and Wildlife helped create this park.  This is is the primary reason that our parks are generally public parks. Note the tax entity involved in this project. Other parks were funded by state or federal grants as well.

This time capsule is an interesting point of history in The Woodlands.

Soccer

Basketball

Click any photo to see a full screen view.

Summertime flowers

We will walk across Lake Woodlands Dr in the next article to see the pond and the swamp vegetation. 

Getting there:

Windvale Park

A significant Alden Bridge village park found on the north side of SH 242 in The Woodlands Texas is Windvale Park.  It is one step down from a Village Park due to its size, but it is a nice park! There are some interesting aspects of this park that makes it special.

Special picnic area

This spacious green area next to the park gives the visitor a sense of openness. It is a very good area for a jog along pathways integrated with the park itself.

There is water here with associated wildlife.

Pathway between park and green area

Pavilion

The pavilion here is large.

Swimming pool

Children's play area

More children equipment

Tennis courts - 2

Sundance Park in The Woodlands

This medium sized park in the Village of Alden Bridge is one for a family who lives nearby. It is easily located and is frequently accessed by residents in the local neighborhoods.

The four table pavilion is useful for small group events.

Picnic tables are available and basketball courts provide the neighborhood youth a competitive energy outlet.

  Getting there:

GPS coords: 30.210358, -95.552222 Alden Bridge at Sorrel Tree Pl

Terramont Park

This beautiful place is one of my favorites. It has a rather large hill for these parts, covered in grass.  This hill is the outstanding feature of this park, great for a picnic. Another special feature of the park is it's nine hole disc golf course. That course is listed with photos in DG Court Review. The small pavilion would be perfect for small group events such as a birthday party or a multi-family picnic. Like all Woodlands parks, to use the pavilion, it should be reserved in advance.

To me, this is a classic family park for an adhoc spontaneous visit on a nice Texas day (and they are all nice, right?). 

I got to wondering about Disc Golf when I visited this park. For one, how do you play it? For another, why do we have such a sport here? I cannot answer the second question or really the first. For the life of me, I do not know if anyone uses this facility or not. I have never seen anyone there, but I have been there only three times, so what do I know? Basically, this is a form of Frisbee and golf but don't take that lightly. This is a professional sport and it is available in many communities. Click here for simple some advice on holding and throwing the disc .  If you want, you can Google the sport and learn how it is played - fairly simple.

I saw some evidence  of wildlife here and sure enough encountered a couple of deer on the perimeter of the park.  With the soccer field, the bathrooms, the tennis courts, and the dog park, I rate this park high on my list for diversity and just a good place for the family. By the way, I saw a children American football team there on a Saturday morning with their parents for a practice on that hill. They rented the pavilion and consumed all the parking. 

GPS coords: 30.201730, -95.556706
Branch Crossing at Terramont

Lakeside Park in The Woodlands

Lakeside Park is a large village recreation area in Alden Bridge Village next to the Bear Branch Reservoir and Bear Branch Creek.

Behind the sign above is a commemorative marker where the 1000th mile of Woodlands pathways was laid.

This swimming pool is standard for The Woodlands and very modern. It was sure inviting on this hot Memorial Day weekend!

  Entrance to swimming area

There are two pairs of courts making a total of four courts. This village park has several "twin" amenities.

In the back of the park, there is a kayak and canoe launch for those interested in an outing on the reservoir. These two fishermen left the dock just as I positioned myself for taking some photographs of the reservoir.

A soccer field, baseball diamond, and  lacrosse field are available here.

Normal playground equipment for children

Wheels friendly area for skateboarding

Down this pathway are two identical twin pavilions, named "A" and "B". They can be reserved separately.

Unit "A" with four tables

There are several areas for picnics, some have twin tables and all have a grill. These are special in that they overlook the reservoir.

The kayak launch. There is often large amounts of vegetation on this reservoir, making it difficult to fish near the launch. If you plan to fish, you should be aware that the reservoir is not managed by the township, but by the state and therefore, you must have a fishing license. Perch, bass and crappie are regularly caught by fishermen in this body of water. The Texas Game and Fish Commission does enforce their laws here. They occasionally check for licenses and safety of boats, so if you plan to fish, bring your license!

Getting there:
GPS coords: 30.204512, -95.542807
Near Alden Bridge at Benton Woods Dr